Summary:
- When school becomes all about school exams, a curious question or a long story can start to feel like wasted time.
- About four in five Indian students in an NCERT survey linked their anxiety to schoolwork and exam results. From 2026, CBSE’s optional second board exam in May gives Class 10 students another chance.
- Exam pressure on students can slowly wear down their peace of mind, curiosity, playtime and belief in themselves.
- Even high scorers can get so caught up in marks that they never stop to ask what they enjoy.
- Most parents push out of love. Gentle questions after a result, and a home without comparisons, help children feel safe to try again.
“Not everything that counts can be counted.” – William Bruce Cameron
A child’s growth is one of those things, however carefully we grade it. Exams have a fair place in school life, and marks do tell us something useful. But when they become the only thing a school, or a family, seems to notice, children start to feel it.
Across India, parents and teachers push because they care about a child’s future. Over the years, exam pressure on students has grown heavy enough to shape whole childhoods. In a race for marks, children lose their peace of mind and their confidence in themselves. With a little more balance at home and in school, we can protect both.
What Does It Mean When School Becomes Only About Exams?
The next test starts to decide what children learn and how they spend their days. In an exam-driven school, the timetable bends around the next paper. A long story or a curious question can feel like wasted time.
Some teachers in the UK call such places exam factories. Many of them feel the weight of results as much as their pupils do.
India’s own National Education Policy 2020 names the same problem at home. It says today’s board and entrance exams, along with the coaching culture around them, are “doing much harm”. The policy adds that they replace “valuable time for true learning with excessive school exams coaching”.
How Much School Exams Pressure on Students Is There in India in 2026?
Children feel this pressure too. In 2022, NCERT asked about 3.79 lakh students from Classes 6 to 12 how they were feeling. Around 81%, roughly four in every five, named schoolwork and exam results as a source of anxiety.
For teenagers preparing for entrance exams, the load can feel very heavy. A 2024 study from Udupi, Karnataka, surveyed 570 of them. Of these, 86% reported high academic stress. And 87% felt strong academic pressure from their parents. Often, that pressure comes from a parent’s worry about the future.
CBSE has taken a small step to help. From 2026, Class 10 students can sit two board school exams in the same year. Every student takes the first one in February and March. The May school exams is optional and lets students improve up to three subjects, such as science, mathematics or a language. Only the better score goes on the marksheet.
The board says the change aims to reduce “school exams stress” and discourage “over-reliance on coaching”. For a child who fell ill or went blank in the exam hall, May now offers another try. In July 2026, about 60% of students who tried again had improved their scores.
What Do Children Lose When School Exams Come First?
Peace of Mind and Good Mental Health
Constant pressure often shows up in a child’s body first. Watch for signs of anxiety such as these:
- Headaches or stomach aches on school days
- Trouble sleeping in the weeks before exams
- Sudden irritability, or pulling away from friends
- Pretending not to care about studies
Test anxiety can also make a well-prepared child go blank in the school exams hall. Under stress, the brain’s alarm system takes over and recall suffers.
So if your child comes home saying everything vanished, believe them. Most of what they revised is still there, and fear only hid it for a while.
How Rote Learning Crowds Out Curiosity
When marks are all that count, teaching slowly drifts towards whatever scores. Children learn model answers and examiner keywords, often without asking why they work.
They understand a subject properly when they have time to ask odd questions and get things wrong. One 2024 paper argues that exam-focused schooling leaves teenagers little room to think creatively.
Time for Play and Conversation
Extra revision time usually comes out of the playground or an unhurried chat at dinner.
In these everyday moments, children learn to share, listen, speak up and lose gracefully. They carry these skills with them long after school ends.
The Chance to Find Their Calling
Children who score well can get so busy chasing the next mark that they never ask what they enjoy.
Toppers are often steered into “safe” streams and then “safe” careers. Some later find themselves in work that never quite feels like their own.
One of our own writers spent over ten years in investment banking and did well. Today she says she would rather have studied fashion design or psychology. She was so caught up in scoring that she never asked herself what she wanted.
School years are the best time for that question. A child with room to explore is more likely to choose a path that fits.
A Steady Sense of Self-Worth
When grades dominate the talk at home and school, children start to see a score as a verdict on themselves.
Singapore psychotherapist Prionka Ray writes, “Failure and shame can become part of their identity. The labels stick for a long time.”
A fever or a worry at home can pull a result down on exam day, and the child blames herself. Many children from low-income homes start school with fewer advantages than their peers. A few low marks can convince them that school is not for them. A patient teacher or parent can help them believe otherwise.
How Can Parents Ease School Exams Pressure at Home?
At home, school exams pressure on students often comes wrapped in love. Most parents push because they worry, and children read that push in their own way.
A strict parent, however loving, can make a poor result feel frightening, with a scolding or cold silence at dinner. Over time, that fear can leave a child resentful until they stop trying altogether.
Children are also quick to notice when a parent seems happiest after good marks. Many study late just to see that pride on their parents’ faces. One Year 6 pupil in England said, “You don’t want to disappoint people.” A child like this may chase marks anxiously and lose interest in the subject itself.
Both kinds of pressure change how children handle a setback. An Australian study of 839 students found that children facing more conflict at home were likelier to hide school problems. Those who felt supported were more likely to ask for help.
So a child who hides an answer sheet is usually dreading the conversation at home. Your first question after a result can change that. You could try:
- What part of the paper felt hardest?
- Was there a question you knew but could not finish in time?
- How are you feeling about it?
A few everyday habits help as well:
- Praise effort and progress, and keep comparisons with cousins and classmates out of the house.
- Protect your child’s sleep, and keep one daily activity that has nothing to do with marks.
- Tell your child, in plain words, that your love does not depend on a result.
A child who feels safe telling you about a bad mark is far more likely to work on it.
How Smile Foundation Helps Children Look Past the Marksheet
The British documentary series Up has followed the same group of people since they were seven. After its latest film, Dr Haili Hughes wrote, “A seven-year-old is not a finished person.” The same is true of a fifteen-year-old holding a disappointing school exams result.
Schools can keep high standards and still ease exam pressure on students. A single paper should never decide how a child feels about herself.
Smile Foundation carries this belief into its work. In 2024 to 2025, its Mission Education programme supported over 1,85,000 children across 27 states. Many of them come from families where finishing school is never guaranteed. Alongside classroom learning, the programme brings in sports and digital learning, and trains teachers in child-friendly methods.
If you believe every child deserves room to grow, you can stand with Smile Foundation in this work. Donate towards a child’s education.
FAQs
- What are the effects of school exams pressure on children’s mental health?
Heavy school exams pressure can leave children anxious and short of sleep. Over time, some children begin to link their worth to their marks.
- How do I know if my child’s exam stress is normal?
Some nervousness before a test is normal and can even help focus. It becomes a concern when it lasts for weeks or starts to affect sleep and friendships. If your child seems withdrawn or hopeless, speak to the school counsellor or a doctor.
- Why does my child go blank in school exams after studying well?
Under stress, the brain’s alarm system becomes more active. This makes it harder for the thinking part of the brain to recall information.
- How can parents reduce academic pressure during board exams?
Praise the effort your child puts in, and avoid comparing them with others. Most of all, let your child know your love does not depend on a result.
- What is holistic education, and why does it matter?
Holistic education looks after a child’s emotional and physical growth along with academics. It includes sport, arts, values and life skills.
- What has changed in CBSE board school exams in 2026?
Class 10 students can now take an optional second board exams in May. The better of the two scores counts.
- How common is exam anxiety among students in India?
In an NCERT survey, around 81% of students linked their anxiety to studies and results. It tends to rise in board exam years.
Sources:
- National Education Policy 2020, Ministry of Education, Government of India, 2020
- Studies, Exams and Result Cause Anxiety Among 81 Per Cent Students, Shows NCERT Survey, Scroll, September 2022
- Manodarpan, Ministry of Education, Government of India
- Academic Stress, Perceived Parental Pressure, and Anxiety Related to Competitive Entrance Examinations and the General Well-Being Among Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Survey from Karnataka, India, Journal of Education and Health Promotion, December 2024
- CBSE to Hold Two Class 10 Board Exams Annually: What You Need to Know, Gulf News, September 2025
- CBSE Class 10 Second Board Exam Result Out; Overall Pass Percentage Rises to 96.78 Per Cent, The Tribune, 18 July 2026
- Anxiety in Children, NHS
- Stress Signalling Pathways That Impair Prefrontal Cortex Structure and Function, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2009
- The Negative Impact of Exam-Oriented Education on the Creativity of Adolescents in the 21st Century, Transactions on Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, 1 April 2024
- The Shocking Truth About Exams and Kids’ Mental Health, Every Child SG, 19 February 2025
- The Impact of Poverty on Educational Outcomes for Children, Paediatrics and Child Health, 2007
- Stressed Out: The Psychological Effects of Tests on Primary School Children, The Conversation
- Parental Support and Adolescents’ Coping with Academic Stressors: A Longitudinal Study, Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 2023
- Everything I’ve Learnt About Life and Education from ’70 Up’, Dr Haili Hughes, Substack, 23 September 2026
